Jesse Saunders

House music first got its start within the walls of Chicago's Warehouse nightclub, thus attaining its name. As the music moved to the wider community, the sound significantly changed and what developed is House music as it eventually came to be known. While one of his biggest influences, and another instrumental figure in the development of house, Frankie Knuckles, confined himself to the gay nightclub scene (primarily that of the Warehouse), Saunders took the unique sounds of the Windy City to the masses. Instead of relying solely on disco and R&B like Knuckles, Saunders expanded his musical repertoire and fused it with the turntable trickery that remains a staple to this day. As a DJ he would accentuate desired moments in songs through loops and repetition, focusing on sections that were stripped down to just the drum or bass – a tradition he would carry on as a producer.

At the age of sixteen, Saunders became exposed to Chicago's night club scene, enthralled by the sounds of Frankie Knuckles and others in the scene. It wasn't long before he became a nightclub headliner, and in 1982, he opened up his own nightclub, the Playground. Attendance figures soon outnumbered those of the Warehouse and Saunders used the opportunity to incorporate his original material into his sets.

By 1983 he was producing his own music and in early 1984 he released the first official house music record along with Vince Lawrence, "On & On", on the label they made together, Jes Say Records. Saunders composed the track with Lawrence in order to replace a record which had been stolen from Saunders' collection, the "On & On" bootleg disco megamix by Mach (1980). That megamix, a pastiche of loops from several disco records, particularly the bassline from Player One's "Space Invaders" (1979) and Lipps Inc's "Funkytown" (1980), had been Saunders' "signature" tune as a DJ; it was one that other DJs in the city didn't have or didn't play. Saunders & Lawrence added hypnotic lyrics and electronic instruments, utilizing a Roland TR-808 drum machine as electronic percussion as well as a Korg Poly-61 synthesizer and Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer.[4][5]

"Funk U Up" (the first house track to ever make it onto the Billboard charts), "Real Love", "Love Can't Turn Around" (the song that started the house music revolution in the UK) and "Dum Dum" soon followed. His group, Jesse's Gang was eventually signed to Geffen Records, releasing the album Center of Attraction shortly after, with the single off the album, "I'm Back Again" becoming a top ten club hit.

By the late 1980s, Saunders decided to focus all his efforts on writing, producing and remixing instead of DJing. Throughout the 1990s, he made his way back to DJing, touring the world over, as well as trying his hand at producing music for television. His independent label, Broken Records, fully embraced the digital revolution by distributing music solely via the Internet. Since 1991 he has been involved in House Music Reunion Picnic, celebrated every Fourth of July weekend. The event brings together over 100 DJs and attracts upwards of 30,000 people. In 1997 he reunited with the other forefathers of house music to release Chicago Reunion Album.

Saunders went on to be featured in hundreds of books including the bestseller "What Kind Of House Party Is This?" by Jonathan Fleming (MixMag) and his own semi-autobiography "House Music...The Real Story", co-written by James Cummins. He has co-starred in over 10 documentaries including the Sun Dance award-winning "Modulations," the Channel 4 (London) mini-series "Pump Up The Volume," the BBC audio documentary "The 2nd Summer of Love," the TV1 Unsung: "Frankie Knuckles and The Roots of House," the Channel 4 (London) "I Was There (When House Took Over The World)," the BBC "Can You Feel It" and the award-winning "Put The Needle on the Record." He has had hundreds of features in every major industry magazine including Rolling Stone, MixMag, Urb and Keyboard. Saunders has lectured at top conferences, schools, colleges and universities throughout the world including The Red Bull Academy, Oxford University, Boston University, The Winter Music Conference (Miami), Popkom (Germany), The New Music Seminar (New York) and the Amsterdam Dance Event (Holland).

In 2004 after touring incessantly throughout the world, Saunders revived his Broken Records label. The label releases digital content to the all major download sites and boasts featured artists such as Inaya Day, Scott Langley, Sound Syndicate, Igor Garnier, Didier Vanelli, Mia Calderon, Joe Smooth, Marshall Jefferson and of course Jesse Saunders himself.

In 2009, Saunders released the critically acclaimed 25th Anniversary of House Music Album, which resulted in a worldwide tour featuring Art depicting the culture and pioneers of the genre. The tour hit all over the US and as far as Johannesburg, South Africa.

After the successful 25th Anniversary of House Music Tour, Saunders founded the Electronic Music Cafe in Vegas 2010 to display the Art from the Tour. It has turned into a major broadcast network featuring DJs and fine artists interpreting their music. ElectronicMusicCafe.com. He also founded the Music & Arts Society, a non-profit entity for the advancement and preservation of the DJ culture, with the launch of the word's first DJ Culture exhibit entitled "SPIN – Evolution of the DJ", that same year. Mayor Goodman issued a proclamation during the red carpet ceremony for the highly publicized affair for his outstanding contributions to education and the culture of Las Vegas.[6]

In that same year Saunders produced and released the first installment of the Above The Sound Cloud compilation series to critical acclaim. He also produced and released the first Chilled & UnBroken compilation series, as well the internationally acclaimed DJ Divas Album.[7]